The €4.9bn damages would take Kerviel thousands of years to repayGetty

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He was sentenced to three years in jail with a further two years suspendedGetty

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Kerviel remains free on bail pending an appealGetty

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Kerviel was not accused of acting for personal enrichmentAP

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The appeal is likely to be heard in the next 18 monthsEPA

Charles BremnerParis

Last updated at 11:36PM, October 5 2010

The French futures trader who almost broke one of his country’s leading banks
was ordered to repay €4.9 billion and sentenced to three years in prison
yesterday for fraud and breach of trust.

The harsh sentence was a triumph for Société Général, Jérôme Kerviel’s former
employer because it cast all blame on the trader who was caught in January
2008 with an illicit gamble on futures trading worth a total of €50 billion.
When the accounts were settled, this produced a net loss of €4.9 billion
(£4.26 billion).

Kerviel, 33, a hairdresser’s son from Brittany, had admitted guilt but claimed